• Boxwood swap box


    This is my latest box made for an exchange on the AAW forum this month. I received a nice screw top box in Mopane from Michael Beswick and this is the box that I have sent him in exchange. This box is made from Boxwood and is 50mm tall and 50mm in diameter. The outside is an alternating box pattern made with a 2mm wide cutter and a 12 bump rosette. The top is decorated with 2 different rosettes, my favourite Arch 7 in the centre and a phased 36 bump rosette for the edge pattern and the centre is fitted with one of my black CZ stones.The inside of the lid was made with a Fire Flower rosette and again has a black CZ stone in the centre. The base of the box has a double line decoration using the same 36 bump rosette as the top and has my laser engraved signature on it (not something I normally do but was a requirement of the swap rules).

  • Mopane box with suction fit lid

    This Mopane ornamental box was inspired by a recent post by @qbranchwoodworks It measures 75mm in diameter and stands just over 55mm tall. The basket weave pattern was cut using a 4mm cutter. I used two different rosettes to decorate the lid and fitted the centre with one of my usual white CZ stones. The inside of the lid and the base are decorated using two different rosettes. This is a suction fit box with all decoration done on my Rose Engine lathe.

  • Big & Small

    Every month my online woodturning club (https://woodturningzoom.com) has a challenge that members show on Zoom on a Wednesday evening. This months challenge was ‘Big & Small’ so to make anything you like and a smaller identical version of it. I decided to compete in the challenge with the large piece being the box I showed on the 7th June. I decided to make a smaller copy of this box that fitted inside this one.

    There were some challenges along the way as the small box is only 32mm by 32mm. This meant that I had to use a 2mm cutter rather than 3mm to make the basket illusion on the side of the box and there was only room to get one repeat of the pattern on the top and bottom of the lid. I also did not have a suitable set of gears to make a barleycorn pattern on the base of the smaller box. The final challenge was that the larger box had a curved inside to the base and the small box would not fit in and allow the closing of the lid. I had to remount the large box on my conventional lathe to put a flat bottom on the inside. To prevent marking / damaging the already finished box I 3D printed a split ring the suitable side to fit my chuck jaws and the base of the large box and this was successful.

  • Boxwood and Blackwood box

    This small Boxwood box is 50mm tall and 50mm in diameter. The basket weave pattern was made using a router cutter 3mm wide on my Rose Engine lathe. The lid both inside and outside has a CZ stone set in it. The top was decorated using a universal cutting frame mounted above centre to give a slightly spiral pattern. The inside of the lid has an African Blackwood insert cut using a flower rosette and a drilling frame with a small ball cutter. The base was decorated using spirograph type gears instead of a rosette.

  • Horse Chestnut burr and Blackwood box

    This little box is 9cm tall and 6cm in diameter. The base is a small piece of Horse Chestnut burr and the lid is a piece of Blackwood. The lid has a small red CZ stone in the centre. The inside of the lid is decorated on my Rose Engine and then the pattern filled with Gold embellishing wax and has a white CZ stone in the centre (I will add another photo of the inside of the lid).

  • Satinwood box

    This box is made from a piece of Satinwood given to me recently by a friend to see if it was suitable for ornamental turning. I am pleased with the way that it came out with no tear out using both a drilling frame and a cutting frame. It is 65mm tall and 47mm in diameter and finished with clear lacquer. The top and the inside of the lid are decorated with CZ stones. The other images show a close up of the pattern carved into the top, bottom and the inside of the lid.

  • Small box

    This small box 60mm tall 40mm in diameter was decorated on my Rose Engine lathe. The wood is unknown by me but was quite dense so it took the pattern well. The top has a white CZ inserted in the centre of the pattern. The inside of the lid is also decorated and has a blue CZ stone in the centre of the pattern. It is finished with 3 coats of lacquer. It will be going to a friend in Scotland in payment for a large piece of Oak burr that he gave me recently.

  • Boxwood Box

    An ornamental box made from lightly spalted boxwood. It is 70mm tall and 70mm in diameter. The basket pattern around the outside was made with a 3mm wide cutter. The joint between the lid and base is 3 patterns down from the top. The same 18 bump rosette was used for the lid but the cutter this time was a universal cutting frame rather than the drilling frame for the side. The inside of the lid and the base also have patterns on them. The lid is adorned with a 5mm red cubic zirconia. The box is finished with 3 coats of acrylic gloss lacquer.

  • Purple heart ornamental box 2


    This is my latest ornamental box again made in Purple Heart and finished with gloss lacquer. It is 6 cm high and 4.5cm in diameter. The basket pattern on the side is an experiment with some new cutters, the top three rows are 2mm wide, the next 3 rows are 3mm wide and the last 3 rows are 4mm wide. The lid has a yellow cubic zirconia stone in the centre of the ornamental pattern. there is another ornamental pattern carved on the underside of the lid.

  • Purple Heart ornamental box

    This small (5cm diameter 6.5cm tall) Purple Heart box was turned and then decorated on my Rose Engine. The Basket weave pattern is 2mm wide, both the top and the underside of the lid are decorated with different patterns. A CZ stone is in the centre of the top and it is finished with 2 coats of spray lacquer.